Sunday, April 22, 2012

Hey all, Well I mentioned I was going to be getting back into doing some more beer with Brettanomyces and some other bugs. Well I just racked my De Dolle, Stille Nacht inspired ale out of the primary into 2 different carboys and pitched a vial of Brett claussenii (WLP 645) in one and a vial of Belgian Sour Mix I (WLP655) in the other. I'm not expecting a lot of sourness from the B. claussenii, just more of a pineapple-like aromatic quality hopefully. I'm going to see what I can do with both of these as far as blending them when they are all done. I'm very anxious to try these as it has been a couple years now since I have played with any wild yeast or bacteria. Here is the recipe I came up with for this beer. This is a 90 minute boil to try and volitize dms precursors.

Stille Nacht inspired

16-E Belgian Specialty Ale

Author: Brian Richards

Date: 4/13/2012

Size: 10.5 gal

Original Gravity: 1.082 (1.026 - 1.120)

Color: 7.58 (1.0 - 50.0)

Bitterness: 20.8 (0.0 - 100.0)

Ingredients:

23.0 lb Belgian Pils

8 oz Honey Malt

8 oz Special Aromatic Malt

8 oz German CaraFoam

8 oz Belgian Biscuit

8 oz Belgian Caravienne

2 lb White Table Sugar (Sucrose)

.75 oz Bravo (14.2%) - added during boil, boiled 60 m

0.5 oz Styrian Goldings (3.4%) - added during boil, boiled 15.0 m

0.5 oz Styrian Goldings (3.4%) - added during boil, boiled 3.0 m

1.0 ea Fermentis T-58 Safbrew T-58

1.0 ea Fermentis S-33 Safbrew S-33

I transfered from primary fermenter into 2 5 gallon carboys carrying over a decent amount of yeast from the primary and I pitched 1 vial of WLP645 (Brett. claussenii) and 1 vial of WLP655 (Belgian Sour Mix I). When I transfered the beer my gravity was at 1. 022, not sure how much character I'm going to get with this being the starting line for souring agents. I'm a little rusty.

**********

Well, my and my bro-in-law are thinking about brewing a batch of our O.T.A.S. (One Ton Axle Swap) Imperial Porter today for a festival in Portage, IN. (Porter's Perfect Pint sponsored by Leroy's Hot Stuff and Pat's Liquor) We want to age some of it in a recently dumped whiskey barrel that should be arriving this week. If you live in the area you should come check us out. I believe it is in late Sept to early Oct. sometime. I'll definitely be posting about it as it approaches.

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

I love sour beer. Write that on my tombstone. I also like to brew it. As a homebrewer with a busy schedule this can pose a problem. You see I got so busy with family, school, work and such that I got stuck in that rut of only brewing once in a great while so I was cranking out more sessionable and easy-to-turn-around beers. Now, those bretty horse blanket and face contorting flavors I am without. Sad indeed. So I decided to do something about it and brew a nice base beer that is inspired by De Dolle Stille Nacht and I'm planning on splitting it 3 ways with different bugs in each carboy. I'm going to use a White Labs lambic blend, Brett claussenii, Starter from a Hansens Oud Kriek and maybe some Jolly Pumpkin dregs. I can then decide if I want to do any blending down the road.
I also have plans to do an old ale or maybe more along the lines of a stock ale with some Brett clausenii to try and mimic the old traditional aging process where these beers would pick up Brett anomulus (clausenii) - like characteristics from the barrels.
I'm also getting set to do some Flanders red and possibly an Oud brown aged in stainless steel to compare against the reds. (Wich are still brown's by the way) Confusing facts for a different post.
So that's my brew plans for the next couple weeks. I'll post recipes and pics as I go.
Cheers,
BR

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Hey all, this is my first post in a long time. I've found myself with a lot more time on my hands lately so I think its about time to get back to updating the old blog. Sorry to those who have been following this and wondered where the heck I went. I've been busy brewing and have lots to blog about and I'll get to that in the next week or two but I thought I'd start off with a quick little bit of praise to a really good homebrew supply store (now with 2 locations -- Taylor, MI & Ann Arbor) that I've been more than satisfied with as of lately. I'm am a frequent customer of sites like Northern Brewer, Morebeer, Midwest, Austin Homebrew, Williams Brewing and the like but lately I have found that AIH "Adventures in Homebrewing" has been my go-to website for ingredients and equipment. I have found so many great deals on that site and being a MI resident I get a huge discount on shipping when I order full sacks of grain. Where else can you order a 55 lb sack of Belgian Pilsner malt and have it shipped to your front door the same week for $5.00 shipping? Nowhere, that's where. Every time I place an order I get follow up emails and if there is something wrong they give you a call and sort it out. Everyone I've talked to there is very helpful. The also have a rewards program so you can get coupons to use when you accumulate points from purchases. I just placed an order for a used Whiskey Barrel (5 gal) for $89.00.....C'mon that's a steal.

I just wanted to throw some praise their way and hopefully send a few customers in their direction. By the way, I am not affiliated with them in anyway, even though my URL is similar to the name of their store.

Monday, May 3, 2010

Whoah, my dry hop experiment (with this particular beer) gave me totally unexpected results. Cascade came out on top of the Amarillo. I think it had to do with a balance thing since I used a lot of amarillo at the end of the boil. The Cascade dry hopped beer was more complex and enticing where as the Amarillo Dry Hopped beer just seemed to be more 1 dimensional. Kegged the Cascade version and threw in an ounce of Cascade and an ounce more of amarillo in the Amarilly dry hopped version for good measure. I'll keg that one once they settle out.

I split this into two batches and dry-hopped one with 2oz of Cascade and one with 2oz of Amarillo hops. I was 100% sure I'd like the Amarillo better. Turns out, Cascade worked better. (for this recipe anyway). I used a lot of late addition Amarillo so I think the cascade beer was more compled because of the dry hopping.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

I got to spend some time in the garage on Sunday and brew some beer which was a nice treat. I've been so busy this passed year that brewing has been sparse and the supplies are dwindling. I think this is technically my first "kitchen sink" beer I've ever brewed. No I didn't brew it in my sink. Basically I brewed a huge beer with what I had on hand. Good thing is, it is probably something I would have tried anyway.

Thursday, September 3, 2009

I'm back in school and I am swamped with reading and my beer supply is dwindling away. I need to set up some sort of automated system to brew for me while I am in class. Hopefully I can find the time to sneak in a brewday soon. It seems every second of my day that I am not at work or asleep I am in a book. Oh well, it's only 2 years of school and then back to the old hobby (religion) we know as homebrewing.

MY INTERVIEW ON BREW BUBBAS RADIO

About Me

I am 33 years old I have been brewing for about 12 years now. I love all styles of beer but I have a serious obsession with Belgian Ales and sour beer. For all of you gmail users, I am always online and love chatting beer. Feel free to hit me up with any questions or ideas concerning brewing or my blog.